


The Twisting Willow

by TheRussianMel



Series: The Climate Trilogy [1]
Category: The Twisting Willow
Genre: Climate Change, Female Character of Color, LGBTQ Themes, POV Female Character
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-19
Updated: 2021-02-19
Packaged: 2021-03-16 03:20:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 6,220
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29569503
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheRussianMel/pseuds/TheRussianMel
Summary: Anitrea is a Portuguese girl living in Albuquerque, New Mexico with her mother and father. It's her 2nd week at her new highschool when strange things start to happen to her city, and her state.
Series: The Climate Trilogy [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2172414





	1. The Dreaming Willow

**Author's Note:**

> This is something i'm doing in my free time :>

The strokes of my hand came naturally. I loved how I wrote, creating a story of my own.   
“Anitrea! Come downstairs! Dinners ready!”   
“Coming mother!” I yelled back.   
The flow of my writing was too perfect to stop though. I heard someone coming up the stairs, but I paid no attention to it.   
“I thought you were coming downstairs, diabinho ( little devil ).”  
My writing spireled to a stop as I turned around to talk to my mom.   
“Hey, Hey, I’m writing!”   
“No, come eat! I don’t need you hungry. Plus, your father prepared your favourite.”   
“He made piri-piri chicken? Really?!”   
I practically jumped out of my chair before she could respond, running down the stairs. I saw the chicken, the warm rice underneath it. My mother made it with bell peppers and broccoli, which is different from the normal recipe. My father greeted me from the kitchen, putting the already prepared plates on the table.   
“Are you excited for your 2nd week of school?” My father asked.   
“I’m pretty excited, I guess.” I couldn’t respond fully, already stuffing the chicken in my mouth.   
“O trabalho foi cansativo.( work was tiring )” My mom said, plopping down on the chair. My dad shook his head. She was slowly eating the chicken, with a tired expression on her face.   
“Por que isso é tão monótono? ( why is this so monotonous )” I asked, the quiet atmosphere enveloping my words. My mom smiled, saying,“Somos apenas adultos chatos. ( We are just boring adults )” I sighed, finishing my chicken. I got up to put my dishes away, washing my plate and forks. I went back upstairs to continue to write, losing myself in the paper. We’re having a harder time with money, and since I’m 16, I should probably get a job. I kept thinking and writing, and I wasn’t paying attention to anything. I stopped writing, seeing that it was almost 11 pm, so I had to get ready for bed.   
After getting ready for bed, I swept into my covers. I turned off my light on my bedside table, closed my eyes and went into my own dreaming head. I heard the twisting willow outside my house creak, creating a huge wind gust. I heard a tiger, or some kind of cat, walking all over it. It was talking, no it was singing something. “Olhe para isso! Lá está! Lá está!( Look at this! There it is! There it is! ) A árvore torcida! ( The twisted tree! ) Os ramos todos em torno de mim! ( The branches all around me! )” It kept repeating the same verse, again and again, making me think it was a dream. I went to the window to see the Tiger on the willow tree.   
Then the birds started to chirp along to the song, like drums to the song. Then she heard humming, coming from the prairie dogs in the ground. Then there was a huge drum like sound coming from the tree next to the tiger. It was the tree! Then she saw this ghostly figure that looked like a chipmunk near the tree. Now that I realized that all of the animals had this whitish glow around them. And the tiger had a different pattern on their fur than normal. They were now quieting down now, seeming like it was the end of the song. I sat back down on my bed not believing what I had just seen. Then, out of nowhere, the tiger got into her room, walking through the walls. I couldn’t move and was stuck looking at the tiger.   
It seemed like it was laughing, creating a kind of thunder around me. It smiled at me, and looked all around my room.“Quite a place you have here.” It said, still looking around the room,”Is this place a tree?” I still couldn’t say anything or move.”Is this really surprising for you? Humans are always too scared at everything.” I still couldn’t talk. “Oh well, I guess I’ll just visit you some other time.” Then it leaped out of my room, back to the willow tree.   
I woke up, looking around me, looking outside at the willow tree. Nothing was there, making me think again it was a dream. I got back into my bed, pulling the covers up to my chin. I slept calmly, no more dreams, or singing cats.


	2. Just a normal Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anitrea starts her 2nd week of school and starts a "normal" day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> idk what to put here

I woke up the next morning to hear the birds chirping and singing. It reminded me of the cat again.  _ When will I stop believing in fairy tales?  _ I asked myself. I looked at my calendar, seeing that it was September 1st. I got dressed and got ready for school. I put on some light makeup, since my acne wasn’t so bad. I looked out at the window at the willow tree again. Nothing was there, just silence. I got all my books and put them into her backpack, shoving some papers in too. I looked at the clock, seeing that it was almost 7:20 am.  _ Perfect timing, as always. _ ”Honey! Breakfasts ready!” I heard my dad yell. I ran down the stairs with my backpack on my back. 

“How was your party upstairs last night?” My mother asked as I rounded to the kitchen. ”What do you mean? I was asleep.” I asked. My mom and dad looked at eachother. ”Well, we heard something walking around the house. Also, we heard something talking.” My dad said.``So it couldn’t have been an animal, so we guessed it was you.” My mom said. ”Was it someone breaking into the house?” I nervously asked. ”Nothing was stolen.” My mom said. “Also, we heard some kind of music, so that’s why we guessed you were having a party.” My dad thought “Well, it wasn’t me.” I said. My mom shrugged her shoulders, saying,”I guess it will be a mystery.” She looked at me questioningly. 

I sat down at the table, seeing a bowl of oatmeal there,and an apple. ”Thanks dad.” I said, eating the food. After I finished eating, I waved goodbye to my parents and went to the garage. We have a small, light blue car and another small, red car. I mostly drive the blue car, so I got in. My mom opened the garage door, waving even more goodbye. I waved back again. I pulled out of the garage, looking in the rearview mirror. I got out of my driveway and pulled out into my neighborhood. I drove quietly to the highway. Once I was on there, I pulled to the right, seeing my school. My school was 3 stories, mostly funded by the government: It was a good school, too. We had a little garden, where we had a garden club. We also had some sports, but they don’t push it too much like other schools. There’s a football field, and a small basketball court next to it. I drove up into the parking lot in my school. I saw other people in the lot, smoking and juuling. Also saw my friend grabbing her bag from her car.”Gabby! Hey!” I waved at her. She looked back at me, waving back.”Hey! How are you doing?”. I walked over towards her, and said: 

”I’m doing good. You?”

“Not so good. This “Karen” yelled at me yesterday, becuase I didn’t give her a discount.” 

“Really? At the coffee shop? I heard that place is really nice to work at.”

“Almost all of the customers are amazing, so I was really surprised when it happened.” 

“Wish I was there to knock some sense into her.” 

“Ugh, me too. You would've blown her into oblivion.”

We both laughed, making jokes about Karen’s along the way to school. We were walking on the pavement when I saw the Tiger again, near the tree’s. 

“Hey, do you see that?” I pointed to where I saw the tiger. 

“No? What are you talking about?” She asked, with a confused look on her face. 

“Oh nevermind.” She looked at me really weirdly, then shrugged it off. 

_ Are they just holutionations in my head? I might want to get checked out by the nurse later today.  _

”So, have you gotten a job yet?” She asked.

”Nope, but I’m looking for one.” I said.

”Well, next to the coffee shop, there’s a jewelry store. I heard they also have good customers, and really good managers.”

“I’ll check it out after school.” 

We were inside the school now, going towards the auditorium, since we had assembly. 

“What classes do you have after assembly?” I asked. 

“I think I have chemistry, or Algebra 2: I should probably check my schedule. What do you have?” 

“I have History, then I think I have English for period 4.” 

“Oh, I think I might have English for the 4th period.” 

_ Ding Dong Bing Bong  _ we heard the announcement speaker go off.”Everyone please make their way to the auditorium for assembly. We will be talking about the 2nd week of school more.” Then a loud  _ “Churk”  _ sound went off, signaling that the speaker had put down the phone. 

“I guess we should be getting there.” I said. We walked towards there, seeing everyone else heading in the same direction. ONce we got there, we took our seats in the 9th grader rows. As everyone got seated, and started to talk a lot, I heard from the speakers,”Everyone please quiet down!” I saw the secretary Ms.Lynn come onto the stage, holding her hand up. Everyone soon quieted down, and the principal and the teachers came onto the stage. 

“Hello everyone!” I heard the principal say. “Are you excited for your second week of school?” Everyone started to yell “Yes!”. 

“Wonderful! Today we are going to be going more in depth about the 1st quarter and the whole school year.” He said with happiness. 

“Well, we will have some activities for the 9th graders to get to know each other on Wednesday, and we will also be having a potluck on friday to celebrate the new year.” Ms. Lynn added. 

“You can choose what activities you 9th graders want to do, like just talking, knitting, cooking, or gardening!” The principal handed the mic to the chemistry teacher. 

“For the rest of you, since you already know each other, you can just hang out whichever classroom you like. However, this is not permission to go into the teacher's lounge, or anything that is prohibited to students. Got it?” I heard a lot of “Got it”’s from the crowd.

The assembly went on for another 15 minutes, just explaining how the year would go. I wasn’t paying attention through most of it, since it mostly was for seniors. 

“Well, that concludes our assembly for today. Thank you all for coming, and you can go to 5th period now.” Everyone was going towards the exits, like a huge stampede of human cattle. I got out of the auditorium with Gabby.

“Well, I guess we gotta split. I’ll see you at lunch Anitrea!” She then left, headed towards the chemistry lab. 

“Bye Gabby!” I waved back. 

I went towards the history classroom, where I saw other people there. 

“Hey, your Anitrea, right?” I felt someone tap my shoulder. I turned around and saw a girl with black hair covering her eye. 

“Yeah, I am. Why?” I asked, stopping to the side of the hallway. 

“I’m friends with Gabby, and I just want to get more friends.” She said, looking down at the floor.

“Oh yeah. Your Jannis, right? You seem really nice from what she’s told me.” I said

“Oh-h yeah. Thank you. Are you going to History too?” 

“Yes: want to walk together?” 

“Sure.” 

We started to walk again, the hallway a little more clear than before. 

“Where did you go for middle school?” I asked, trying to clear up the awkwardness. 

“I went to Ridgeveiw. Where did you go?” She asked

“Warren Middle School.” I answered. 

“I heard that they have the best teachers.” 

“That’s correct! I learned a lot from them.” 

We got to the door of the classroom. I opened the door for her. 

“Thanks.”

“Your welcome.” 

We entered the classroom and started the day.


	3. class

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> She goes to History and English

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 0-0

Mr. Brian was sitting at his desk, writing on something. 

“Hello, come in, come in.” He said, looking up for a quick second. We both sat down at our desks, getting out our binders and our history books. There were a couple of other students here too, getting ready for class. I also heard them talking about how the assembly was boring, making jokes about the potluck. 

“The potluck is just going to be annoying adults.” One person said. 

“And it’s also going to be awkward between the students as well.” Another said. 

“Stay quiet while you unpack your stuff please.” Mr. Brian said. 

“Yes Mr. Brian.” 

Then the bell rang for class. 

“Ok I guess we should wait 2 more minutes for late people, then I’ll start class.” 

The late stragglers came a few minutes after, sitting quietly at their desks. 

“Jessica?” 

“Here.”

“Robin?”

“Here.”

“Terrisa?” 

“Here Mr. Brian.” 

As he called the rest of the names, including mine. 

“Ok, we have one person missing. However, I heard they’re sick, so let's get started. Everyone, go to page 2 in your history book. We will be talking about how New Mexico impacted the US to make it what we know it as today.” 

We talked about how New Mexico created some of the nuclear bombs the US uses, or used. How the Native Ameriacans were pushed out of the place that is now Santa Fe by the spanish conquistadors. 

Once the bell rang, he dismissed us, saying that there was only reading homework. 

“Read pages 14 through 20 before Wednesday, and that’s all the homework you have from my class.” He went to sit back down at his desk. I saw Jannis over by the door, so I walked over to her.

“Hey Jannis, what class do you have next?” I asked. 

“I have Spanish next.” She answered

“I have English.I guess I’ll be seeing you at lunch then.” 

“Oh. Well it was nice meeting you. Goodbye.” 

“Bye.” I waved after her.

I walked down the hallway to my next class, turning right to go up the stairs. The hallway was relatively packed, but not too much that it slowed down the flow of it. I saw that the tiger was on the wall, looking at me steadily. 

“No one else can see me hear but you, you know.” A familiar voice rang through my head. It then disappeared, and no matter where I looked, I couldn’t find it.

_ So is it a hulutionation, or is it real? I mean, I’m not feeling sick or anything. So what could it be?  _ I kept counting the numbers on the doors, seeing if it was the english classroom.  _ 134, 136, 138, 140! That’s the number,  _ I thought as I looked back down at my schedule. I entered the doorway to see it empty, and it was pitch blackness. I blinked once, and it was gone.  _ What is going on with me today?  _ I ignored it and got to my seat in the 2nd to last row of chairs. As the class started, Mrs. Terisa made sure everyone was here. 

“Is Jackson here?” 

“Yes! I’m here.” I saw a boy raise his hand next to me. 

“Ok, I think that’s everyone.” She put down her clipboard and started to write on the whiteboard. 

“Everyone get out their books they read over the summer. We are going to talk about the consequences that the main character, Shina, goes through in this story. Yes Ynai?” 

“Well, one of the problems or consequences she goes through is learning not to lie about everything. She learns to say the truth, even if it gets her in trouble.”

“Excellent way of saying it! Anyone else?”

We kept talking about the book and how the main character impacted everyone. 

_ This book's writing is not ok, it’s too straight forward and doesn’t leave anything to the imagination. That’s what books are all about, right?  _ “Ok everyone, the homework for tonight is to create a paragraph about how you felt she improved or got worse. How did she change?” The bell rang as soon as she told us the homework, everyone starting to get up and put everything in their backpacks, writing the homework down as well. “Ok, goodbye everyone! Remember, the homework is due on friday!” 


	4. The Beginning of the End

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> She gets to the Cafeteria, having no idea whats about to happen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was cool, I guess. Idk I'm getting writers block a lot, so if anyone wants to help, please do! ;-;

After my class was done, and I heard the 3rd bell ring today, I walked towards the cafeteria. The hallways were packed with people, however I saw the tiger again. The ghostly figure was running towards me, over everyones head. Everyone was looking up in the air, as if feeling the tiger running over them. The tiger stopped once it got near me, then went running over everyone behind me. I heard everyone talking about the weird taps on their head, asking everyone behind them about it.

“Hey, did you feel that? It was this weird tingling feeling on my head.” The person in front of me asked

“I think so, I thought it was a gust of wind.” I lied. 

“Weird, isn’t it? Everyone in the front of the hallway felt it.” 

“Huh, yeah, I’ll ask the person behind me.” I turned behind me and tapped the person's shoulder. 

“Yeah? What is it?” They asked, turning to face me. 

“Did you feel that gust of wind over our heads?” 

“Hmm, I guess I did, did you?” They asked.

“Yes, so did the person in front of me.” 

“What if it was a ghost? Or a spirit?” 

“I think it was just a gust of wind. But I guess we got to keep moving.” I said turning around. After that, the crowd continued to move towards the cafeteria, dismissing what had just happened. Most people thought it was just a problem with the ventilation system, or the other people thought it was a prank. I kept on thinking about what the person behind me said. That night I saw those “ghostly” animals, were they spirits? It would explain the whitish glow around them, and how they could run through walls. Also, how would my parents have heard something if it wasn’t me or someone breaking in if it was just a dream? But wasn’t it a dream? I’m awake right now. Or was it real? I’m not sure anymore. 

As my thoughts swirled around my head, I wasn’t paying attention. I bumped into a person to my left.

“Oh my gosh I’m so sorry! I wasn’t paying attention.” I apologized.

“It’s ok, just watch where you're going next time.” They said. I finally got to the cafeteria, seeing Gabby and Jannis at the table in the back right. When I joined them, they looked really confused.

“What’s wrong? You look confused.” I asked

“Everyone's feeling this presence in the cafeteria, like I don’t know how to explain it.” She looked over to the table next to us, who had the same expression as her. 

“Do you feel that?” She asked. 

“Um, are you talking about this wind and weird feelings on our heads?” They asked. 

“Yeah, that.” 

“I guess so.”

Then I saw the chipmunk in the middle of the room. It started to run over everyone, as we all felt the weird feeling again. 

“What is happening?” Jannis asked, warming up her arms with her hands again. 

“Is the air conditioner broken? I expected more from a high school like this.” Gabby said. 

“I really don’t know, but it feels like someone walking over my head more.” Jannis said. 

As soon as she said that, a huge gust of wind washed over the whole cafeteria. I saw almost all of the animals from last night at the willow tree running all across the room, multiple times. Everyone started to run out of the room, except the tiger. Seeing as the wind was almost powerful enough to knock us all over, we started to get up, holding each other’s hands so we wouldn’t fall over. 

“This isn’t a broken air conditioner!”I yelled, but I could barely hear my own voice. 

“What the hell is happening!” I heard someone yell. 

2 guys started to walk towards us, probably for extra protection. The first one had blonde hair, the other had dark green hair. We started to walk towards them as well, as the wind was getting stronger.

“Hey, mind if we join you?! We can barely stand up!” The blonde guy shouted. 

“Sure!” I yelled back. 

They came closer and we huddled into a circle. 

“The doors over there are packed, what do we do?” One of them said. 

“I think I saw the janitors closet over there,” Gabby pointed to the wall near us.”I can barely see it now!”

“I guess we can try.” I said. 

We all started to walk in the same circle formation towards the wall. I looked over to where I last saw the animals, and now all I saw was a red tornado. They all looked spiker, with an angry expression. 

“Do you see that?” I asked. 

“What the- what is that?!” Gabby said. 

“We better get to the closet fast.” Jannis nervously said. 

We inched towards the closet now, getting closer to it. 

“I got the door knob!” I said, feeling it. 

“Ok, open it!” The dude with green hair yelled. 

As I opened the door, we all scattered into the closet. We waited for what seemed like hours, but then finally the door opened. We saw a police officer with a flashlight. 

“It’s safe now, come on out.” 

We steadily got outside, not trusting anything. What we saw was horrifying. There was a huge hole in the roof, extending all the way to the 1st floor. The floor was ripped out of the cafeteria. The whole wall that was to the west was ripped up like chewed bubble gum. When I got a look outside of the cafeteria through the gaps in the wall, I saw a huge trail of destruction outside towards the city. I saw the line kept going, then just stopped right outside of the Santa Fe mountains. I had no idea it was just the beginning. 


	5. Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> She drives home as she gets a strange call, and goes home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have idea's of it getting weirder after this, soooo, get buckled up hon's

I was driving home, since my car wasn’t destroyed like some of the others I had seen. There are 2 parking lots, one on the east side of the school and one on the west side. I was parked on the east side; so my car was fine. I kept my eye on the trail that the tornado created. I saw that the trail was in a straight zig-zag line. I studied tornadoes, and the normal pathing was not at all straight. It always twists and turns in more of an S shape. I turned onto the highway, still looking at the tornado path in my peripheral vision. The police officers said not to say anything about how the tornado was created in the school. 

“Just say it touched down over the cafeteria, we don’t need this to get main streamed, ok?” I remember one of the officers saying. 

“Did you tell everyone in the school the exact same thing?” Jannis asked, eyeing the officer with distrust. 

“I cannot answer that question. You are dismissed early.” He then walked away, back over to the damaged wall. 

“Hey, thanks for saving us.” One of the boys said. “We owe you one.” 

“We never saved you though.” Gabby said. 

“You helped us when no one else did.” The other boy said. “By the way, do we know your names?” 

“I don’t think so.” I said. 

“Well, I’m Fillis.” The one with blonde hair pointed to himself

“My name's Robin.” Said the one with dark green hair. 

“I’m Gabby.”

“Jannis.” 

“And I’m Anitrea.”

After that we exchanged numbers and made a group chat so we could stay in touch. I heard my phone buzzing and my car ringtone, since my phone was connected to my car. I looked at my car screen: it was my mother calling. I touched the “pick-up” button on the screen, ready to be smothered by my mother. 

“Hey, is this Anitrea?” I heard a whispered voice, but it seemed to be familiar. 

“Who is this?!” I asked.”And why the hell do you have my mother's phone?!” 

“Shhhhh! It’s me, the tiger! You know the spirit?” It said, a calmness to its voice.

“What!? What happened at my school? Why can I see you and no one else can?!” I kept asking questions,”Was last night that I saw you a dream?! Or was it reality?! Why did you create a windstorm in my school?!” I was so confused and mad that I basically asked almost the same questions over and over. 

“Look, I cannot talk much right now. I can talk to you near the willow tree outside in your backyard. Meet me there at 12 am, ok?” I heard scraping of claws and a quiet “How do I hang up?” 

“Wait, don’t hang up! I have more questions-”

I heard a quick “beep” and the screen said that “mom” hung up.  _ Lovely, so many questions, so little time kinda thing. Before school was so normal, but it all came crashing down. But at least I’ll get to talk to the tiger tonight and it’ll be able to answer some of my questions.  _ I had just released the highway was so much quieter than usual, creating an extremely quiet atmosphere in my car after the tiger hung up.  _ Maybe some music will help me keep my mind off things?  _ I scrolled through the music library from my phone on my car screen. I picked a song called,”We Fell in Love in October.” By a singer called Girl in Red. 

I was tapping my foot along to the rhythm in the song: I quite enjoyed it actually. Then after it was finished, I decided to listen to the state radio, to see if they had gotten word of what happened at my school. I tuned in to what I guessed was a female reporter. 

“Today in Albuquerque, a tornado touched down over a local school at 12:34 pm. The local authorities are not giving away any more information, so we’ll update you when we can. Thomas, a climate change expert is here with us today to talk about this phenomenon. Hey Thomas, how are you today?” 

“Hey linda, I’m quite concerned right now.” 

“That’s understandable, since this is getting the whole US scared. Why is this a problem though? can you explain it from a Climate Change perspective?”

“Well, New Mexico is a place filled with plateu’s, hills and mountains. Tornado’s usualy appear in flat land. They are created by cold wind coming from Canada, and warm wind coming from the gulf of Mexico. These winds come together and mix into a funnel shape. That’s how a tornado is created. The cold wind and warm wind don’t usually overlap in New Mexico, and the fact that New Mexico doesn’t really have flat land, I think this is the weather getting more extreme in the world. It’s pretty scary stuff.” 

“What else could’ve-” I shut off the radio. Why did the police not tell them what happened? The tornado started in the school, then it created a rampage.  _ What is happening? My life used to be so peaceful until this happened.  _ The winds were calm, not reflecting what had happened. As I turned into my neighborhood, I could see my white wood house. It was small, but it had 2 stories. There were a line of bushes in front of the house, and the willow tree in the backyard. The garage was separate from the house with its own driveway, separated from the main house driveway. 

As I pulled in, my mom opened the door and started to run towards my car. I stopped in front of the garage. I opened my door, grabbing my bag at the same time. 

“Você está bem?! Eu ouvi a notícia! Você precisa de ajuda?! ( Are you ok?! I heard the news! Do you need help?! )” My mom was crying, hugging me so hard that I was almost choking. 

“Estou bem, mãe. Você não precisa se preocupar. ( I'm fine, mom. You don't need to worry. )” I said as she walked me to the front door. “Apenas um pouco cansado. ( Just a little tired. )” 

“O que aconteceu?! ( What happened?! )” We got into the house, my dad running towards me. 

“Um tornado tocou na nossa escola. ( A tornado touched down on our school. )” 

“Estão todos bem? ( Is everyone ok? )” My dad asked worryingly 

“Acho que sim. Eu vi veículos de ambulância fora da escola embora. ( I think so. I did see ambulance vehicles outside the school though. )” I said, still in a daze because of what happened.

“Você deveria descansar querida. ( You should rest dear. )” My dad said,”Você parece cansado. ( You look tired. )” 

“Vou levar sua mochila. ( I’ll take your backpack. )” My mom said, taking my backpack off my back. 

“Ok vou para o meu quarto. ( Ok, I'll go to my room )” I walked up the stairs, getting more tired each step. 

I practically fell onto my bed, almost instantly falling asleep.


	6. The Meeting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> she meets with the tiger, and see's a special world.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Get ready 0-0

I woke up at 11:59 pm in the night. I remembered that I had something important to do, but I couldn’t remember the exact thing. 

“Hey, you still coming to the willow tree?” I heard a familiar voice asked

“What do you mean?” I asked back quietly 

“Well, we were going to meet at the willow tree.” I saw the tiger jump into my room through the wall. I still couldn’t understand what was fully happening. 

“Here, I’ll help you.” I got up from my bed and balanced against the tiger. We walked silently down the stairs, not talking. I opened the back door, quickly maneuvering my hands across it. We got outside to the backyard with no problem, holding our breath ever so silently. I closed the door behind me. 

“Are you ready for me to answer your questions?” The tiger asked, looking at me. 

“I guess so.” I was really calm for some reason, a quietness to my voice. We walked over to the willow tree, matching our steps together. 

“So, what are your questions?” It layed down in front of me, waiting for a response. 

“How can I see you and nobody else can?” I sat down with the tiger. 

“You are what us spirits call “Comunicaters”. Normal humans can’t see us, but you can. They are created by natural phenomenons called “The Calming”. It’s when the Earth basically “whispers” to you when you're born and see if you're fit to see us. If the Earth decides not to give you these powers, then you’re normal like the rest of the humans. If the Earth decides otherwise, you get these powers.” 

“I see. So there are other people like me?” 

“Yes.” 

“What happened at my school?” 

“The other spirits were mad. That’s why they created the tornado. I wanted to stay peaceful: But they didn’t want to listen to me.” 

“You can create tornadoes?!”

“We can create natural disasters when we want to.” 

“Why were they mad?” 

“We are spirits that protect the Earth. Since Climate Change is making the Earth hotter, we can’t keep up. We were supposed to get 1,000 years before the Earth got this hot, but we instead got 50 years. We couldn’t change or get ready fast enough. So some of us had to leave the place we were protecting and go to the spirit world. If we don’t return or if we don’t find a place exactly like the last one, we will die. Some of our friends died already, and that’s why they're mad.” 

“This is really confusing.” I said, scratching my head. 

“You still seem tired from today, and I’ve answered most of your questions, yes?” It started to get up.

“Wait, I do have two more questions.” 

“What are they?” 

“What’s your name?” 

“My spirit name is tigris, but you can call me Triana.” 

“Can I see the spirit world Triana?”

“Do you want to go right now?” 

“Yes!” 

“We can go.”

They started to walk over to the willow tree, with me following behind them. They started to scratch their claws against the tree, creating a circle and a diamond shape in it. They then blew on it, making it glow. It started to get bigger, it became a bluish circle. It became a mix of purple, red, blue, and orange, mixing like a galaxy. 

“Wow! Would you look at that!” My eyes couldn’t believe what they were seeing. 

“Beautiful , right?” Triana said, looking at me with glee. 

“What are you doing?” I heard a squeaky voice. 

“I’m taking her into the spirit world Squirolie.” They looked up into the tree, seeming like they were looking at something. 

“I’m coming with you then. You're too gullible! What if she works for the monstri? We can’t fully trust her yet!” The chipmunk leaped down from the tree, looking menacingly at me. 

“She’s fine! Those communicators are doing that against their own will.” They growled at the chipmunk. 

“You can never trust humans!” They said, turning around into the portal. 

“Sorry about that, Squirolie just doesn’t trust humans.” 

“That’s fine, I guess.” 

We started to step into the portal, it swirling around my leg. 

“Just go in, you’ll be fine.”

“You sure? I don’t want to make spirits mad.” 

“Just go.” 

I took a deep breath, putting my other foot into the portal, then putting my whole body in. I closed my eyes, ready to see the spirit world.


	7. The Spirit World

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Triana takes Anitrea to the spirit world

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> idk

What I saw was blank, with nothing to see. It looked like we were in a purple orb, with dark purple clouds and a purple ground. 

“Hey, what’s happening Triana?” I asked and looked over to them. 

“They’re having a meeting now?” I heard them whisper. 

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Follow me and don’t leave my side.” She started to walk forward. 

“Where are we going?” 

“I’m not sure myself.” 

We continued walking forward for what seemed like an eternity, the purple clouds swirling around us. Even though we were walking a lot, my legs didn’t hurt that much and I wasn’t tired. 

“I think we’re here. Stay right there.” 

They stopped in front of what looked like a tower with an orb on top of it. The tower was dark blue and the orb was light blue. It was very bright, lighting its surroundings with a bluish tone. Triana jumped to the orb and went into it. My legs started to feel very tired, so I layed down on the ground, waiting for them to get back. 

“Hey! You! Why are you here?!” I heard a squeaky voice. 

“I’m waiting for Triana to get back! Who are you?” I asked. I saw the chipmunk jump through the tower, landing right in front of me. 

“Oh, it’s you.” They snarled. 

“Why are you mad at me?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know, so you can betray us like everyone else.” They turned around, snarling again. 

“What are you talking about?! I never did anything wrong!” I stood up, pointing my finger at the chipmunk. 

“I’m not telling you! Again, you might betray us.” 

“Why would I betray you?! Can you just tell me instead of just saying that I’ll betray you?!” I started to yell at the chipmunk. 

“See how mad you can get?! Humans are so mad all the time!” 

“Says you accusing me of betrayal!” 

“Can you guys stop?” Triana jumped down from the tower. 

“Is the meeting over yet?” The chipmunk asked. 

“Yes, you can go anywhere you like now.”

“Finally, you can now hang out with the human.” 

“Can you stop now? You really need to make our communicators comfortable.”

“Oh I’m Triana, and I have to be so happy with humans! I shouldn’t be violent, even though they're violent to us!” The chipmunk was pretending to be Triana, trying to make her mad. 

“Squirolie, you need to calm down, your being too loud.” 

“Ugh, leave me alone.” The chipmunk ran away, looking back at us. 

“Sorry about that, they-”

“Really hate humans, I know.” 

“We should go back before they get here. They’ll try and kill you.” 

“Who are you talking about?”

“The other spirit’s. Everyone’s on edge after yesterday.” 

“Ahh, I see.” 

We started to walk back to the portal, just walking in a straight line.  _ I think it’s about dawn, but I could be wrong. I have to get back before my parents wake up.  _ I saw the portal in the distance, swirling around in circles. 

“This is where I have to leave you, ok?” 

“That’s fine, I can go on my own.” I started to go back through the portal, stepping on foot at a time. I saw that it was still dark out, so I quietly entered the house through the back door, not making a sound. I krept up the stairs back to my bedroom. I quickly closed my door, jumping into my bed. I lifted up the covers, got in and went to sleep again. 


End file.
